Tuesday, February 04, 2014

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday - The Pilgimage

Every Tuesday Diane at Bibliophile By the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where readers share the first paragraph or (a few) of a book.

Here is my contribution...the opening page of The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho:

Arrival
The customs agent spent more time than usual examining the sword that my wife had brought into the country and then asked what we intended to do with it. I said that a friend of ours was going to assess its value so that we could sell it at auction. This lie worked: the agent gave us a declaration stating that we had entered the country with the sword at the Bajadas airport, and he told us that if we had any problems trying to leave the country with it, we need only show the declaration to the customs officials.

We went to the car rental agency and confirmed our two vehicles. Armed with the rental documents, we had a bite together at the airport restaurant prior to going our separate ways.

We had spent a sleepless night on the plane--the result of both a fear of flying and a sense of apprehension about what was going to happen once we arrived--but now we were excited and wide awake.

"Not to worry," she said for the thousandth time. "Your're supposed to go to France and, at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, seek out Mme Lourdes. She is going to put you in touch with someone who will guide you along the Road to Santiago."

I think this best-seller, along with the movie The Way, has brought the Camino de Santiago, the pilgrim's route across Spain, to the level of popularity it now enjoys, its highest since medieval times, I believe. I am planning to walk the Camino in 2015, if I can get my plantar fasciitis under control. Anyway, The Pilgrimage is on my TBR Pile Challenge list and I'm thinking that it will be the next book I start. I especially want to read it before going to one of the screenings for the new movie, Six Ways to Santiago.